Morphology, biology and distribution of Stigmella irregularis Puplesis (Lepidopera: Nepticulidae)

Abstract

New data on the morphology, biology and distribution are given for Stigmella irregularis Puplesis, 1994, a species described after several males from Crimea. A combination of black head, ochreous orange frontal tuft, creamy collar and scape, and hindwing black androconial scales are characteristic of the male. The female specimens collected by the present authors together with males, and described for the first time here, having the same morphological characters combined with the transversal forewing band, have been preliminarily attached to this species. Stigmella irregularis develops in the leaves of Pyrus amygdaliformis Vill., adults were collected near Pyrus elaeagrifolia Pallas, and other Pyrus species are also possible host plants. The indistinctly yellow larva forms a narrow, later only slightly dilating mine, with dropping accumulation in its first half. All other nepticulid species mining on Pyrus spp. show green or greenish white larvae. Judging from the occurrence of adults and larvae, the species either produces two or just one extended generation per year. It is known from Crimea, Croatia, Greece (incl. Crete and Rhodos), and Sicily; here it is reported from Croatia for the first time, and the first ­exact faunistic data are supplied for Greece.

Keywords

• <i>Stigmella irregularis</i>
• biology
• <i>Pyrus</i>
• female
• distributional data